Agreed Cecelia. And good to see it expressed here.

One thing that I have expressed many times on this forum is my disgust with compulsory preferential voting, which often means that your vote counts where you have no intention of it counting. Your vote can get hijacked, which of course is totally undemocratic and is indeed the complete opposite to the very purpose of voting.

Well, there has been practically no support expressed on this forum over that issue.

So in light of that, I am not at all surprised at the lack of protest over our diminishing freedom of speech and our right to access what should be freely available information. And I am not surprised at the almost complete lack of acknowledgement of Right to Know Day, or the small number of responses to your article.

I find the apathy, and the direction of our so-called democratic government in this regard thoroughly disgusting.

Cheers

Ludwig, I think that compulsory voting is not democratic, I can see no justification for it, and when voting seems pointless (e.g. a ratbag will win whatever I vote), I write "No compul;sory voting" on my ballot paper rather than choosing from a bunch of bad candidates whose standards and views I do not respect.

Actually Faustino, compulsory voting is a completely different thing to compulsory preferential voting. Compulsory and optional voting are both within the realms of democracy, whereas compulsory preferential voting most definitely isn’t, while optional preferential voting is.

Bushbred, I must take issue with you re Lawrence of Arabia and the British "double cross". Lawrence wrote "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" as part of a campaign for greater Arab autonomy after WWI. He acted as an advisor to Winston Churchill and achieved most of his objectives by 1921. For a full account you might be interested in Jeremy Wilson's majesterial biography of Lawrence, which I cannot recommend highly enough to anyone interested in Lawrence or the Arab Revolt. Seven Pillars is a marvelous book, but should not be taken entirely literally (a bit like the Bible).

That said, I can't disagree with the general thrust of your argument. Diplomacy is a dirty game. It has only one redeeming virtue; it is better than the alternative- WAR.

Governments hide their motivations behind a smokescreen of spin and a blizzard of press releases. Faustino points out the ignorance and selfishness of many people. Too true, but t'were ever thus. The well-informed well-intentioned few can influence history. The Rennaissance, the Enlightenment or the abolition of slavery (incomplete as it was) show the way.

Johnj, first off thanks for the part compliment that at least you suggest that we are trying. I have said - we - because our arguments are mostly based on philosophical points of view from publications recommended by the Murdoch School of Humanities.

Further, as regards Lawrence and Winston Churchill, yes there was an unusual friendship, and even after Lawrences’ unhappiness about the outcome of the Treaty of Versailles they did at least try to work together. But then the real double-cross came during 1923 to ‘25, when the British tried to pattern their promised peace arrangement on what has been called by critics Dyarky Democracy, or - double rule - actually copied off the British Raj in India, where though the local human complement of the new so-called democracy was a copy of the British system, the Home Office also arranged Comissar-style British watchkeepers besides, hence the double-rule.

Thus came the 1925 uprisng, in which Churchill as Minister of Defence really fell out with his friend Lawrence, when he gave the order to the RAF to use mustard gas on a large troop of Arab calvary, killing ten thousand.

Finally the Iraqis were forced to accept double-rule similar to most of India.

Also in regard to you mentioning significant turning points of history such as the Rennaissance, the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment. did you mean that these were first influenced not so much by wars but by thoughtful common sense?

As regards the Rennaissance which was the first turning point, it is said to have really been influenced by the acceptance of St Thomas Aquinas through the influence of Moorish Islamic scholars that Christian faith was needed to be tempered by Aristotelian reasoning. The change was also greatly helped by a rather racy French monk Peter Abelard who went on preaching - the search for enquiry - through the whole of Western Christendom. Aquinas wrote a whole thesis on it, helping to create what some call the great changes of modern humanity.

Best Regards, George C, now Mandurah - WA

The well known practice of "stacking the bench" has no real meaning today, for both the incumbents and the opposition are indistinguishable on policy, or indeed philosophy these days.

I have trouble with some of the more recent judgments, for it seems we are indeed regressing to a darker time in our history. Parliament, the Judiciary, the Executive - the 3 droits of our system of government have become blurred and mostly irrelevant in the sense of 'power separation'.

Perhaps the tree in Qld, from under which the Labor Party sprang, has died in protest. A good strong dose of 'Roundup' should likewise be sprayed around Canberra to discourage the noxious species growing there.

As for our rights per se, and the specific article based one of "right to know" ie Freedom of Information perhaps... then we are well along the slippery slope of fascism already.

Herr Dubblya and Co are steathily and surely eroding, attacking and removing any avenues of expressing dissent from us the Crown subjects. When the the media ownership laws are changed, then we truly will have a propaganda machine worthy of the Nazi regime of the 1930's. Censorship, biased views, sanitised reporting, perception management - it is here already and waiting for the legislative framework to be enacted.

Conquest by division is evident in the religious zeal exhibited by the man waiting in the wings - and ask his brother just where did all the $$$ from donations to Tsunami Relief actually go?

'Administration'... puleeze!

For those who are interested or even care. I suppose I'll see you on the barricades - if the footy isn't on that weekend....